Investigators: Daughter confesses to slaying

Thursday

APALACHICOLA — The daughter of an Apalachicola woman found murdered Dec. 12 told investigators she shot and stabbed her mother to death after a heated argument, according to law enforcement reports.

APALACHICOLA — The daughter of an Apalachicola woman found murdered Dec. 12 told investigators she shot and stabbed her mother to death after a heated argument, according to law enforcement reports.

She then buried the victim’s body in a mound of debris on an isolated beach about 10 miles west of town.

According to a Dec. 13 autopsy performed by the Leon County Medical Examiner’s Office, Cynthia Green died as a result of more than 60 stab wounds and a single gunshot to the back of the head.

The Franklin County Sheriff's Office, with the assistance of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, arrested Sandra Anne Loudermilk-Conkel, 46, of Apalachicola, Saturday afternoon on charges of first degree murder in connection with the death of 68-year-old Cynthia Green.

She was taken to the Franklin County Jail after being apprehended without incident at the Best Western Motel in Apalachicola, where she and her mother were staying after being burned out of their home early last month.

In a first appearance by video Sunday before Circuit Judge Frank Sheffield, Loudermilk-Conkel was ordered held without bond, and assigned a public defender. The Office of the State Attorney, 2nd Judicial Circuit will prosecute this case.

Undersheriff Joel Norred said law enforcement officials interviewed several people in connection with the murder, but are not seeking other suspects in connection with the murder.

“We believe she acted alone,” he said.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Investigator Brett Johnson, Loudermilk-Conkel confessed to the murder Saturday during an interview by Johnson and lead investigator Duane Cook at the sheriff’s office investigations building.

Saturday’s confession followed numerous interviews by FDLE and Franklin County investigators, during which “Sandra told several stories which were later found to be false,” Johnson wrote.

The report says Loudermilk-Conkel told officers that on the morning of Dec. 12, she and her mother had driven to 10 Mile Road west of Apalachicola, “where a heated argument ensued.”

Loudermilk-Conkel told officers that during the course of the argument, “she gained access to her mother’s 25-caliber handgun, which she used to shoot her mother. Sandra stated her mother was facing away from her when she fired the shot.”

Loudermilk-Conkel told investigators that after firing the shot, “she began to stab her mother with a folding lock blade knife. Sandra could not remember how many times her mother was stabbed because she blacked out. Sandra stated she then drug Mrs. Green over a ledge at the end of 10 Mile Road and covered her body with debris.”

The Sheriff’s Office said in a news release last week that around 1 p.m. Dec. 12, they received calls indicating a body had been spotted in the area of State Road 30A, 10 miles west of Apalachicola. That sandy stretch of beach at the end of Ten Mile Road, bordered by woods with thick undergrowth, is popular with net fishermen, and people walking their dogs.

Loudermilk-Conkel had been employed at Bay City Lodge, doing part-time piece work scaling fish, said Bay City’s owner Jimmy Mosconis.

She had recently moved back to Apalachicola after living elsewhere for several years, and was married in Dec. 2002 to Gary J. Conkel, in Orange County. The marriage was dissolved in September 2011.

Loudermilk-Conkel had lived at her mother’s house at 191 Ninth St. until the time the house became uninhabitable after a kitchen fire in early November.

Green worked as a senior LPN at the Franklin Correctional Institution in Carrabelle.

Green was known as an animal lover, and her menagerie of more than 15 cats and three pit bull mixes are being rounded up by animal control officers. They are hoping that, with the family’s permission, they will be able to adopt out the animals. For more information, contact animal control at 670-4733.

In a posting on her Facebook page, Loudermilk-Conkel’s younger sister, April Loudermilk, thanked the entire community for their expressions of prayer and love.

“This is a very hard time for me and I'm trying so hard to be strong,” wrote Loudermilk, who said her mom was planning to retire next month.

“She worked hard all her life to have and was going to finally be able to kick back. This demon Sandra that was once known as my sister took my mother’s life. All my mother did was help her and this is how she repaid her,” she wrote.

“I would give anything, anything to have her back in my life. When you lose someone it hurts!” Loudermilk wrote. “I just lost my father in May. It hurt, and still does, but it was from natural causes. My mom was robbed!

“My mom was my 83-year-old grandmother’s only child and she is really going through it as well,” she wrote. “Please continue to keep us in your prayers.”

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